HOPE is a fraud
As Joe Windish noted this morning, Shepherd Fairey, the artist responsible for the “HOPE” portrait of President Obama, has admitted to tampering with and manufacturing evidence in a lawsuit related to the portrait. The Associated Press claims that Mr. Fairey owes them compensation, since the portrait was based on an AP photo of Obama.
I’m curious to know whether Obama will get a question about the portrait at his next press conference. He bears no responsibility for what happened, of course. Yet on a symbolic level, Fairey’s behavior represents an ironic indictment of the borderline personality cult embraced by so many of the President’s admirers.
We were told that Obama’s election would mark the beginning of a new era of (post)-politics, in which we would leave behind the selfishness, the pettiness and the deceptions of the past. As it turns out, the iconic image at the heart of this personality cult embodies everything we were supposed to transcend.
Which brings us to the Nobel Prize. Once again, Obama bears no responsibility for the strange decision to award him the Prize. To his credit, he stated that very clearly. Yet the premature Prize, like the HOPE portrait, is both a manifestation of the Obama personality cult and a demonstration of its emptiness.
But perhaps all of my carping is irrelevant. The burdens of office have already brought the President’s reputation down from the clouds. Yet as someone who spent seven months working full-time on the 2008 campaign (on the other side, of course), I have a hard time letting go of the contrast between the unbridled expectations of Obama’s fans and the reality that us critics warned them of. But just so you know, I haven’t given up on change:
Cross-posted at Conventional Folly
21 Responses to “HOPE is a fraud”
Liberal as in “Artistic Liberties” — that this happened, is it really a surprise?
Of course “hope” is a fraud.
The Change is a fraud too.
Fairey lying it about it was dumb. Fairey using the image was not. It was a clear case of Fair Use because he didn't negatively impact the market for the image. In fact, he actually created the market for the image. And, perhaps ironically, there's a dispute between the photographer and The A.P. about who actually owns it.
Moreover, I don't begrudge your carping. I begrudge your claim that you're somehow right about what you said of Obama by pointing back to your own opinion of him. If you're not going to give the guy any time, fine. But it's more than a bit silly to be having this conversation so early in his presidency.
Let's look at this from a less Obama-centric pov for just a second. When was the last time we had a president whose accomplishments actually lived up to the hype his proponents put forth and believed in? I'd say it just goes with the territory. And in the case of Obama… how long has he been in office? I think some folks are a little too anxious to declare him a failure. As you say, Obama himself had nothing to do with either of these incidents,and I believe he is going to be our prez for a few more years, so…
Well said, J.
But I think with Obama it went the other way.
He was making awesome speeches promising a better tomorrow, but offering no specifics on how it was to happen.
At the same time he appears to have kept hidden his more grandiose plans to bring the entire nation toward a socialist state. This isn't a comment on healthcare. Healthcare is a piece of the puzzle. His being in bed with ACORN/SEIU and using them to innoculously run sub-departmental business and his “takeover” of media are other pieces. These pieces have been in the works long before Obama became President. They are in line with the plans the extremist types talked about for years (America can become socialist nation without a shot being fired). That is the main difference between Obama and his predecessors. Don't get me wrong….. I was ready for a different kind of politician – but not this kind of different.
Well, what you may think is extreme might be what I think is just common sense, so the term means little absent of useful context. As I said, I'm willing to give the man some more time: I never thought he was the messiah, but neither am I one of his detractors – and many of those have conveniently forgotten what kind of country he inherited, and so my expectations are tempered accordingly.
This is probably a good place to drop this Obama quote in, from a DNC fundraiser the other night:
“What I reject is when some folks say we should go back to the past policies when it was those very same policies that got us into this mess in the first place. (Applause.)
Another way of putting it is when, you know, I'm busy and Nancy busy with our mop cleaning up somebody else's mess — we don't want somebody sitting back saying, you're not holding the mop the right way. (Applause.) Why don't you grab a mop, why don't you help clean up. (Applause.) You're not mopping fast enough. (Laughter.) That's a socialist mop. (Laughter and applause.) Grab a mop — let's get to work.
Not too shabby.
Man he IS good!
Got to be the best speaker since Hitler – nothing implied there….seriously.
I'm not a fan of his either, nor am I a nay-sayer. Like you, I'm willing to give people a chance.
The Constitution is my main beef. It and democracy are what i get really ansty over.
He's right about one thing. “Grab a mop – let's get to work.” I'm afraid that my mop is in a differnent broom closet. That's why I've been attending the Tea Parties. Yes, I'm a democrat. But the upcoming taxes and socialist activities has me a bit nervous. I'm afraid that Mr. Obama doesn't like my kind of “cleaning” either.
Jefferson…
Let's get those over once and for all. The United States is a mix of socialism and free market principles. Why? Because we started out with free marketism and found out that we didn't have any safety nets and good people were dying needlessly. So, in order to make sure our society doesn't fall apart at the seams, we need to make sure that folks don't fall through the cracks. So there is a balance, there always will be and you need to just deal with that fact.
Moreover, anybody claiming that Obama wants to turn the entire thing into a socialist state is either a) lying or b) doesn't have any idea what they're talking about.
To another point…does anybody remember “The Shining City Upon The Hill?” “A Thousand Points Of Light?” Come on folks…Obama actually promised something much less than what other Presidents have promised and yet the spinning that's being done about what he promised makes it seem like he promised everybody would get solid gold cadillacs. He made a point of saying time and time and time again that change wouldn't happen over night and that we wouldn't agree with everything he's doing. Just because you weren't paying attention doesn't mean it wasn't said.
HOPE is a fraud? Boy howdy, that's one hell of a misleading headline David.
Would you like to know what the real fraud being perpetrated here is? It's a fraud being presented by wingnuts with no bottom rung. This spinning of anything and everything to somehow infer that any faulty actions done by anyone are the fault (or responsibility) of Barack Obama is preposterous.
As Justin Gardner wrote: “I don't begrudge your carping. I begrudge your claim that you're somehow right about what you said of Obama by pointing back to your own opinion of him.”
Right wing fraud and spin… This silly “story” brings BS, fraud and spin right up to, but just not quite over, a point of immorality. The lack of civility coming from the right is pathetic.
Dear Justin pls add to that list, No Child Left Behind, and Just Say No.
Many of us saw some progress in all those slogans, but also saw that often the slogan was bigger than the evidence based outcomes, sorry to say.
The AP didn't pay President Obama for making money off his image. Screw the AP, they have enough money. Let this poor man alone. HOPE is his creation. The image is the President's. The AP created nothing.
[...] Moderate Voice: I’m curious to know whether Obama will get a question about the portrait at his next press conference. He bears no responsibility for what happened, of course. Yet on a symbolic level, Fairey’s behavior represents an ironic indictment of the borderline personality cult embraced by so many of the President’s admirers. [...]
So now that the AP has nailed Fairey on the photo, what do they do now? There's only, what, tens of millions of copies, including the ones with different captions and stuff, out in the Real World and the Interwebz?
The fact that the party that worships Ronald Reagan accuses the other side of treating one of theirs like the messiah is more than a bit humorous. And I seriously question whether the average American conservative begins to understand what socialism really means.
I totally understand what you are saying Justin.
Without the Dept. of Labor, free marketism drove the working man to slavery.
I really, really, understand that. I am presently a member of a national union. I stand behind labor (locally, not nationally, as they are corrupt).
But there is a fine line between protecting people (which is the government's duty, among others) and replacing the private sector with a government-run entities. Healthcare is a shining example, as is a “green-sector” industry. In a pure-marketism scenario, the corporations win. In a pure-socialist scenario, no on wins.
I also understand that all presidential candidates put out their catch phrases as you pointed out. The “thousand points of light” is right up there with “Yes we can”. The point I was trying to make is that Obama didn't go as far as the others, and that's good. But it is bad as well. He didn't make the huge promises and didn't illustrate the path on how to get to his more vague promises. That's the dangerous part. For example….. I'm going to overhaul healthcare. Awesome!!!!!! It's about time! We all agree on that general statement. But without a plan given, he could go as far as killing all the doctors and replacing them with turtles. Now that is a exaggerated example of course, but you get the idea. Candidate Obama went a bit wishy-washy on Nationalized Healthcare during the campaign. Hillary Clinton wanted it outright. He danced around the subject many times. We did not know of his plan for healthcare until he, Reid, and Pelosi designed the “ram it down everyone's throat” method.
I maintain that strict regulation of healthcare industries, pharmaceuticals, insurance, and trial lawyers (tort) would have vastly improved the healthcare system; without putting is 2 trillion dollars further into debt. And that comes from a democrat.
Steve, you're my American brother, and I love ya.
But if you called out left-wing fraud and spin as easily as you do the right-wing fraud and spin; people would take you more seriously.
I must whole heartedly agree with you. Conservative ignorance is pandemic. Few realize that the United States stands at the extreme end of the political spectrum of our planet. As unrepentant capitalists with little controls, we are the extremists! We feed upon our own as financial cannibals and beguiling sales method of the highest psychological technique designed to steal from even the poorest. Virtually the entire world is more Socialist than we. With this in mind we may be the richest nation, (albeit that is rapidly changing), but our people’s standard of living falls well below so many other nations with no sign of improvement what-so-ever.
….why should the poor people of America encourage their young fight to the death for this capitalist pig state? It is simply not in their best interest to do so.
Joe Stalin? Is that you?
No thanks, Joe. I can work for my own living without the government telling me what job to have.
I can also choose the products I want, without the government telling me what I can and cannot have.
Keep your socialism. 90% of your countrymen agree with me. Good luck convincing us that we are an evil people.
No they don't. Nobody agrees with you.
More agree with me here than you, oddly enough.
I'm a moderate and you're a liberal. That's the way it should be.
PS. What's your problem?
The colleague of mine in Seattle shared my love of plain language when it was appropriate in place of anything needlessly complex, elaborate, or (merely) fancy. What he said is what the public has been saying (at least, the mainstream and the more mature among us) toward the lib Dem excesses this year:
“Socialize yourself. Leave me alone.”